Cranberry juice is one powerful antioxidant drink that’s good to keep in your food-as-medicine kitchen cabinet. It’s a festive, easy drink to serve up to your dry and under age guests that wins health points for all.
Cranberries have stood the test of time over centuries like many healthy, plant-based foods. That helped people survive.
The fruits were originally named crane-berry because it was a popular food for cranes, as in birds. Machines 🏗️ aren’t drinking or eating yet.
…Also, wouldn’t it be fun to name fruits because many are still being discovered in our New World? 💭 I remember when elderberries came on the scene as good for cold immunity… I feel like an elder berry. 😊
These days, we share these same foraged foods with other small wildlife creatures like squirrels, deers, and other birds. 🐿️🦌
And humans turn this cranberry fruit (that’s not a berry) into a drink for good reason.
For one, cranberry juice is known to be good for preventing urinary tract infections, even though it hasn’t been made fact.
But preventing infections mean less antibiotics in your body that always helps gut health. The rise of antibiotic resistance and contaminated meat is costing over $2 billion annual in the U.S., so it’s worth believing cranberry as preventative medicine.
Pure 100% juice version is the one to source and buy. 💯 without added sugars like the common cranberry cocktail version you find in convenience stores. Buy it when you’re inconveniently in the big grocery stores with a cart and the juice will last long after opened.
It’s one healthy holiday tradition that you can stand by…
And on-travel, ordering a cran-apple juice on the airplane can be a good next-to-water hydrating drink with vitamins and minerals.
At home, besides as a glass of cranberry juice, you can make a cranberry tea… either iced for warmer months or warmed tea for colder or transitional months.
And the way to keep this a low-sugar, healthy beverage is to change the taste. 100% cranberry juice is tart, so adding other natural flavors will enhance the tartness and make it exciting. ♥️
For warm tea, use dried fruits, flowers, and spices to naturally spice-up the tea, like these pairings:
-Hibiscus & rose hips
-Elderflower
-Raspberry
-Apple
-Orange Peels
-Ginger
-Cinnamon
Use a strainer for the dried bits, and if they’re finely ground, you can use a paper coffee filter that you can cut down to the right size for your strainer.
I actually like when a few tea leaves seep through as it keeps the tea homemade and rustic feeling. Turn on the moody jams and you have an enjoyable break. 🎶
But that’s a nice choice you get to make in the moment…
And at the end, zhughing with some ruby red fruits like cranberries and pomegranates sinking to the bottom make it a bottomless tea party!
In my drinks, you can even find some shredded coconut streamers or rosemary spikes, and a ‘pick of cranberries for tasty interest.
Those details come naturally from my event and party planner days where it’s all about the special zhugh. This one is good for the heart.🫀
For an iced tea version, use fresh fruits, flowers, lemon… and omit the spices.
You can also use your cranberry juice tea to make other wild fresh drinks or mocktails…
You can add cranberry seltzer water to make a big fizzy punch that’s a pink champagne color and bring up happy spirits! 🎉
Coconut carrot apple smoothie is refreshing and healthy… and one you ought to consider on your list of smoothies.
It’s a bright anti-inflammatory smoothie that you can drink year-round and start your balanced breakfast with that includes fiber, vitamins, minerals, and healthy fat to prep you for your protein bites.
AND it’s a great start for supporting weight loss goals
For starters:
Ginger – is a detox ingredient. This is a good ingredient to add to your daily beverage or water. It’s a punchy flavor that helps digestion and inflammation.
Ginger pairs great with a carrot (…carrot ginger soup 💭).
Carrot is a balanced veggie that’s known for beta-carotene and it’s no surprise that it’s anti-inflammatory. Carrots also have lutein that’s good for eye health. 🥕
Pairing apple with carrot is another balanced pairing. “A” is for apple, and “b and c” is for beta-carotene and carrots.
Red Apple – loaded with anti-inflammatory quercetin. The apple skin has the most antioxidants, so when using all in your smoothie… choose organic apples.
A medium sweetness apple like Gala, Fuji, or Red Delicious apple works well.
And…
Coconut flour is a gluten-free flour that is good for thickening. Since there’s no peanut butter or banana in this smoothie (that’s another smoothie 😋), you need a denser solid ingredient that complements the smoothie taste.
The flour version is a more subtle coconut taste that’s consistent and gives the smoothie a creaminess. If you’ve ever had coconut milks, you may have experienced the inconsistency, where the liquid separates from the solids.
The separation can cause a mix of tastes (not good for picky critics).
Btw, if you have someone who doesn’t like an ingredient, you can always substitute or omit.
…That’s close to my heart because I used to detest ginger and now I love it. And you have stories with your food journey where you evolve in tastes when you give foods another chance… and even some earlier food allergies, you can grow out of.
Spices can be part of that journey.
Cinnamon is one good sweet anti-inflammatory ingredient that you want to keep trying.
…Like in this coconut carrot apple smoothie as one way.
Ceylon cinnamon is the cinnamon that’s good for beverages as it’s the healthiest. It has a more sophisticated taste (my way of saying an acquired adult taste) than Cassia or traditional cinnamon we usually see and fragrantly use in baking treats like apple pie or galette desserts.
And to smooth-ie balance this smoothie, add your milk of choice.
Almond milk is a balanced plant-based milk. It has Vitamin D, E, A.
Adding some healthy fat like almonds (that almond milk comes from) help absorption.
Plus almond milk is usually easy to find in the stores, next to the cow’s milk you grew up drinking (that helped you grow up maybe a few extra inches). 🥛
Blend milk, apple, carrots, flour, cinnamon, and ginger. Tip: keep the peels for texture if you prefer with organic apples. Gala or Fuji apples work well.
Anti-Inflammatory fall soups are special because they have healthy rainbow plate and bowl goodness that’s good for the palate too. Like this fall color beet soup that can look like weeds growing in a swamp. 🌱
Beet soup recipe below 🌈
…And the swampier the better for your body! 🌈
Hot or cold is an Ayurvedic choice that in balance can be a balance in weather season and your body balance needs! Our bodies wisely know what bowl would be better for each of us. 🥣
If we listened to our body… like the way we listened to our mothers, then we help ourselves out.
But the body is usually more subtle in its approval process… showing up in deeper satisfied feelings and as your healthy body without daily symptoms.
And in Ayurvedic terms, eating hot or cold makes a difference in healthy balancing your body.
Homeostasis (balance) means healthy. And the other good “H” word: happy.
A happy body is a happy mind.
And a happy body-mind is a happy self.
Getting to this place is often from choices we make in lifestyle, environment, and work choices.
…I know this well working in buttery situations, with kitchens that used a lot of butter earlier on in my hospitality food career.
…That was the foundation I started with that helped teach me the better ways… similar to butter smeared on a cake pan to prevent sticking.
Those were my hotel days that gradually turned into Mediterranean food restaurant days where the ingredients grew more healthy over the years…
And cold soups first found a place in my culinary world when I tasted cold Gazpacho soup.
I was planning parties for a Washington DC metro Spanish restaurant chain then.
And after that a similar bowl scene in an Italian Capitol Hill restaurant that taught cooking classes.
I was warmed up to the cold soup idea by the time I got to a Lebanese restaurant chain where recommending food menus, promoting food, and tasting was my job.
Someone has to do the hard, dirty work 😋
I learned a thing or two in those years working with the talented culinary staff and foodie guests.
I looked forward to the seasonal menus like most of us do celebrating in-season and farmers market ingredients like watermelon 🍉 in summer… and pomegranates and pumpkin in fall. 🎃
And in my lessons, I learned no matter what temps are going on outside, you can make anti-inflammatory fall soups year-round.
Like a cold beet soup (recipe below 💗). You can’t beat that…
And especially with anti-inflammatory whole food pairings that taste like heaven on earth in the mouth.
…That’s what I lived and breathed planning event menus and food tastings for thousands of catered hotel and restaurant events before I embraced how healthy the ingredients are.
And a nice bowl of soup was part of that healthy immersive experience.
These are 7 soup-er bowls birthed from that healthy spirit.
Pumpkin and Cranberry Soup
I brewed and added seasonal Bigelow Cranberry Harvest tea that will add a crisp acidic, sweet bitter taste with apple bits, hibiscus rose hips, and licorice root. That gives a grown-up sophisticated taste vibe in the mouth.
And you can add whole cranberry juice, plus tomatoes and carrots for balancing anti-inflammatory food pairings.
I used purple carrots here that have anti-inflammatory anthocyanin polyphenols (that are also in dark color berries). Each color has special healthy effects. 🌈
Cook carrot variety of choice (or regular carrots 🥕) until soft. Add a dash of fresh ginger to pair the taste. If you’re not sure if you like ginger, you can use ginger spice to keep it subtle or leave out.
Creamy Tomato Soup
And for a more traditional taste like tomato and grilled cheese with a restaurant-like twist, you can heat up a creamy tomato bowl 🍅 adding in a creamy cheese like Camembert or Brie to get a delicious pairing. You can skip the rind or leave in.
Movin’ on to other anti-inflammatory fall soups that bring a comfort smile… 😋
Chunky Sweet Potato
Cook your sweet potatoes in water, mash, and add to a bowl.
For hot and cold balanced spices, my favorites are trio medleys like: black pepper, turmeric, and coriander.
Or for an Ayurvedic heat-cooling duo, you can use black pepper and cumin.
This is good anytime if you’re leaning into your Vata or Kapha where you’re feeling a cold body internally regardless of the weather outside.
And since both doshas (Vata/Kapha) natually run cold, I’d recommend a warm soup like this one…
Warm Mushroom Soup
Mushroom soup is always my favorite. You can turn into a porridge with warmed oats.
And you can make your own creamy mushroom soup with two simple ingredients: mushrooms and creamy cheese.
You can even use milk or yogurt if you don’t have cheese on hand.
The creamy soups were my favorite growing up… and Cream of Mushroom was high on the list.
The way I like to do it is with the double boiler method where you heat the mushrooms slowly in the inside bowl, so they don’t get as mushy like on a sautee pan.
And you can use the natural mushroom juices to flavor the soup. You can also add a little sherry like they do in restaurants if you like. But this is where I leave the heavy cream in the restaurants. 😀
And near the end of heating up cooking, add the cheese like a creamy Camembert or Brie and let it melt to your liking. Camembert has B12, calcium, and proteins.
If you mix up your cheeses, then you get different healthy benefits. 🧀 And the gourmet creamy cheeses are healthier than regular store cream cheese or Boursin (Gournay cheese) that’s the restaurant equivalent.
If you don’t like any floating cheese that doesn’t melt in your soup, you can simply sift out those pieces. I personally like kitchen sink (everything) in my soup, leaving the cheese rind (mold) and all the natural, herby, and bitter tastes.
But that’s a preference you have a choice in if you make your own soups.
To finish off, I add a dash of white pepper from a mill to lean into the umami mushroom-y taste. 🍄🟫
Add a few drops of balsamic vinegar and Worcestershire sauce and then I’m in Cream of Mushroom heaven.
Staying on the warming trend, this is another easy one that’s so good for you…
Warm Potato Soup
Potato soup was the first soup I made from scratch and a good beginner soup you may have already discovered.
Earlier on I did like most… I bought my soups.
Then in 2020, like many I started making my own soups regularly. That’s when I made my first easy potato soup.
Btw, making soups is easier than making a salad ’cause there’s one star ingredient… potatoes. 🥔
That’s one sac of usually 5-lb bag of potatoes. You can add that as points to your fitness shopping routine that counts! 🎉
And then you don’t have to make extra effort to buy cans that take up space in your pantry and are usually loaded with sodium in case you’re on a DASH or MIND Diet.
Those diets btw have anti-inflammatory sentiments in mind.
Lentil Soup
And one more soup you should add to your list of anti-inflammatory fall soups is lentil soup. It’s pennies to make.
Plus, you can cook lentils faster than potatoes… like 35 minutes on a medium heat stove in case you want to have a good day start like the running hare 🐇 and not the slow turtle. 🐢
You can add coconut milk as a tasty pairing twist. And if you don’t have milk on hand, you can also use coconut flour for a curry lentil soup. Balancing spices to add: curry, turmeric, black pepper, ginger.
And finally without further ado… beet soup 🥣
You can make some easy rustic comfort wheat crackers to go with your fall soups.
Grapefruit vs orange juice is a GREAT juice. Grapefruit is a great immunity booster and has more Vitamin C than even orange juice that gets the better known rap. Neither have their own emoji so they’re on fair playing ground as far as I’m concerned 😊 🍇🟠
Like grapes that grow in bunches, that’s where grapefruits got their name originally. 🍇 I’m thinking… mocktail wine idea. 💡
Grapefruit juice is punchy and sweet bitter compared to acidic OJ. The note endings are tart compared to bitter.
These climate changing days, you can find citrus before their winter citrus season and sometimes year-round.
Growing up, I drank grapefruit juice A BUNCH in the winter. So for me, it’s the preferred juice punch… and maybe for YOU TOO! 🤔
You can make your own homemade fresh juices today. They are pure and not concentrated. And the best part is when you make your own, artificial sugar isn’t added back in.
Fresh Grapefruit vs Orange Juice
And with fresh squeezed juices you don’t need that as the fruits themselves are sweet enough.
…I can say that being a hardcore sweet tooth (Vata 🙋🏻♀️) who has adapted to better tasting ways that are also more healthy (less sugar adds)! How is that possible?? Gratefully, it is.
And in grapefruit vs orange juice talk, if you choose the sweeter fruits like Cara Cara or navel oranges you will have a calming fresh orange juice that moves through your parasympathetic nerves.
There are over 400 orange types and over 20 grapefruit types.
With grapefruits, the more vibrant and gem color interiors are usually sweeter, where a pink grapefruit is a probably on the medium end.
Grapefruit juice is a perfect example. It has the tangy quality with some ending sweet notes.
For a kid, that’s a lot like pink lemonade that wins points. 💕
Plus, grapefruits are giant-size GREAT big fruits so you’re bound to quench your thirst that helps weight loss.
Anti-Inflammatory Grapefruits
Grapefruits are healthy illusions. Don’t let the translucent light pink to bursting pink colors fool you into thinking they’re light in vitamins.
Because actually grapefruits carry a few rainbow qualities… 🌈
They have beta-carotene polyphenols like carrots and sweet potatoes, and also lycopene like tomatoes.
…Grapefruits are also good for the skin and counteracting skin inflammations that we all give a thumbs up to. 👍
AND Grapefruits are loaded with fiber, so they make for a great breakfast accompaniment.
And that reminds me… 💭
I remember the fancy modern buffets I went to on some brunch weekends with my DC metro gang that included a lightly caramelized half grapefruit where you could spoon out each individual juicy wedge.
Special food occasions like that call for special spoons with jagged edges that kinda look like shovels to do the heavy lifting. No juice was lost and no conversation was missed..
In brunch food talk, that was as juicy as a cherry-on-top that always gets noticed like a Ruby Red grapefruit color. 🍒
Microgreens have been around longer than our modern culture.
It was a way of food survival during the winter months of the oldest civilizations on our planet… a lot like how modern squirrels have preserved the foraging acorn traditions.
Baby arugula microgreens are tasty additions to a salad 🥗
Which btw… is outdoor entertaining to watch Rocky the flying squirrel in his purposeful scurrying meal prep moves. 🐿️
How they actually feel about their work we’ll never know, but it has kept their species around.
…And to keep ours going, modern food planning is something we do.
In human life, that’s how it can look with us daily running around in our busy lives… and for me, that’s how it sometimes looked behind-the-scenes as a food service professional in organized chaos prepping and planning weekly catered event challenges in hotel ballrooms and for restaurant parties celebrating Mediterranean food styles.
And even with all the variety of food available to our planet we can be bored with our food sourcing options. 🥬
Daily, we open the fridge and pantry cupboards thinking: “what’s for dinner?” or “what can I have for a little snack?”…sometimes coming up short for a good answer. 🤔
Microgreens can be part of the answer as a healthy and tasty choice.
Here are 5 points that make microgreens a smart choice:
Point #1: Microgreens are food like-able and tasty good.
…Because if they weren’t, why bother?
Children seem to love them as some of the pickiest green eaters on earth.
Many microgreens are smaller, cute kid-size bits and bites like baby arugula, so it’s easier to get a handful of the finger foods than the adult version.
The young greens also add interest, taste, and texture to any plate.
…And why they’re not more commonly known today is unknown. Maybe like their shape-forms, they still have a wild-like reputation… 🌿
Like, I remember alfalfa sprout microgreens from a school age where I once saw the jungle wild-looking tangly-fine weeds in a friend’s lunch box that made me curious…
And now as an adult, thinking it’s a good idea. 🎉
You grow into new perspectives and healthy ways and today is a great way to spruce up 😋 and vertically beef up a light protein mustardy salad sandwich or the like (…einkorn finger sandwich idea below 🧡). Or to garnish a bowl of beets…
Point # 2: Microgreens are less bitter.
Microgreens have the reputation of being less bitter that is good news for some people’s tongues who avoid the taste.
That reminds me of green tea…
If you don’t love bitter green tea tastes that can grow stronger if brewed too hot or you picked the wrong flavor for you, then you probably don’t lean toward preferring many bitter tasting superfood veggies and plant greens.
And that’s why certain veggies 🥦🥬 don’t end up on the plate (like green tea in cups)… or in a diet despite their healthy goodness.
…Green teas 🍵 come from the same Camellia Sinensis plant as common black, white, and oolong teas but differ in process where they’re not oxidized like common black teas.
And what makes the difference for microgreens (and similar to green teas) is the process from the same plant.
Microgreens are harvested early, coming from the same plants as the adult version we see mostly on shelf space in grocery stores. 🌱
So they’re fresh and have different tastes worth trying, often more mild tasting and welcoming to all.
Point #3: Young greens are replenishable, sustainable, and abundant.
…Just like other foods from the soil, nature provides and delivers over and over again..
When we think “fresh” we immediately think of the produce aisle in a supermarket, farmers market, or our backyard garden that produces fastly perishable foods that the soil can replenish.
If you’re a green thumb growing your own mini-market, you can have microgreens planted, harvested, and eatable within foreseeable weeks (and not months or seasons that is the time most produce take). 🧑🌾
That makes microgreens more productive… and where you can have more than what you know what to do with! A good problem to have. ✔️
That would be too easy for getting a meal on the table.
And that ideal IS microgreens.
When you choose the micro-world of microgreens, you too help our community and local farmers.
…Those are baby plant little steps that you can take for your health and to support the world. 🪴
Point #4 – Microgreens are often organic without pesticides.
So much of our plant-based foods are exterior sprayed with pesticides to deter mostly bugs, and that offsets the healthy goodness of the healthiest skin parts of the food.
We throw away the skin that could have been healthy edible parts.
And today, reusable composting ways are not yet available for the common household.
So then we end up creating more waste that adds more plastic bag waste that also attracts unwanted critter nuisances to our community. But what if composting machines were as common as house dishwashing machines? 💭
But that not being today’s standards, with organic microgreens we can eat those problems away as the end consumer. And our bodies are healthier for our choice.
Point #5 – Microgreens are low calories and high in nutrition.
There are few (if any) green plant-based foods 🌱 that aren’t low in calories compared to plant-based (as in factory) foods. 🏭
Fresh microgreens from nature come packed with vitamins and minerals, along with some eat-from-the-rainbow 🌈 polyphenols that make you excited to color your plate and palette with anti-inflammatory food ideas! 🎨
And, mighty microgreens can have 4x (and up to 40x!) more nutrients than their full-grown version.
🎯 Final Points:
Microgreens fit in our consumer micro cultures where we are becoming more customizable specific in food diet preferences that impact food growing ways, and where our farming culture impacts our world.
Sustainable food and young microgreens are sprouting interest in our fast climate changing world searching for longevity answers where eating anti-inflammatory foods fit.
One way you can be part of the anti-inflammatory solution is by growing your own portable microgreen micro garden that can be indoors (good for those with outdoor allergies or without garden space).
Plus, so many viable options to bring in more microgreens from dream to life… yasss!
…That’s something to be excited about today. If this resonates with you, could you PLEASE HELP share this message with others so they can join the MICROGREEN movement that’s healthy here to stay.🎉
Oh, and heres’s an easy whole wheat or einkorn (ancient wheat) sandwich in a modern recipe you can use to make finger sandwiches that was an idea I grew up with in the catering party world… and you can use for lunch, brunch, or an afternoon party.
To gain smiles, simply add delicious microgreens like baby lettuce, cucumber, radishes, carrot, and tarragon.
I have fond memories of tea sandwiches from catering menus, and that are part of English afternoon tea events and traditions. Tea sandwiches are usually bite-size and made of spongey-soft bread where the crust is cut off. And flat crunchy bread like these add plate variety. They work well to celebrate the sandwich ingredients in the middle that can be light and/or all veggies.
Course Breakfast, brunch
Cuisine American, british
Author Brandy @ Healthy Happy Life Secrets
Ingredients
einkorn flour, salt, and water for the sandwich bread.
cottage cheese
cucumber
scallions
carrots
beets or radishes
lettuce
asparagus or favorite veggies
spices: dill, tarragon, black pepper
Instructions
Prepare the sandwich bread. You can make the bread in advance. Let dough proof: develop air pockets and double in size for for at least 2 hours. Then bake dough in oven in a small sheet pan about 1/4" thick until toasted. Tip: Einkorn wheat flour is not a high gluten (rise) flour, so it won't rise much and will lay more like a flat bread when baked. You need not knead long and can omit yeast. Let bread cool and slice the toast with a serated or bread knife.Alternatively if you use regular whole wheat flour, knead a few minutes longer and add about 1/4 tsp of instant yeast (easiest) for a bread that rises. You can cut horizontally into the vertical bread about 3-4 slices to get a similar flat bread effect. Optional: You can turn this into paninis by grilling or baking on a grill pan.
Prepare the raw veggies. Thinly slice into flat or close to flat pieces.
For the sandwich paste, mix cottage cheese, dill, tarragon, and black pepper. You can processor blend the cottage cheese if you would like a smoother paste.
Add paste to the bottom of the sandwich and then layer lettuce, cucumbers, carrots, and others veggies. Add the sandwich bread top. For catering-style zhugh, you can add a toothpicked cucumber slice, or radish and beet and then plate. These easy, new old-fashioned touches show you put in extra detailed care.
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